Bible Verses About Generosity

And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all.

Jesus measures generosity not by the amount given but by the cost to the giver.

He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

Giving to the poor is described here as lending to God himself. That's an extraordinary claim.

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

The posture of giving matters as much as the act. Cheerful — not obligated, not reluctant.

Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

Jesus doesn't say consider giving or give what you can spare. He says sell what you have.

Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open wide thine hand unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy.

Open wide thine hand. Not a crack. Wide.